Viewing the films of Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub means looking at the construction of cinema itself: image, sound, performance, montage. Their work constitutes one of the most distinctive, beautiful, and politically radical oeuvres of modern cinema and has attracted the attention of a wide range of philosophers, filmmakers, and cineastes. Their sensual cinema of the eye and ear is as rich as the many texts and documents - musical, literary, and visual - that have served as the basis of individual works. Their films propose a Marxist critique of capitalism and suggest alternative ways of living.
This volume grew out of the complete retrospective of the films of Huillet and Straub held in London in 2019 which all the authors attended. Editors Martin Brady and Helen Hughes are specialists in German, political, and documentary cinema.